Time Changes Things
by chapstick-buff
Summary: Caleb has left for Ravenswood without explanation, and Hanna isn't taking it well. When she gets drunk at a costume party, Emily takes care of her. Things play out differently then they would have only two years ago. AU in which Emily used to have feelings for Hanna.
1. Chapter 1

"Hanna, seriously. Let me take you home, okay?"

Emily was really starting to get annoyed. Hanna had decided it would be a good idea to bring a flask of vodka to the costume party and drain it within an hour of arriving. She'd already managed to break a vase and upend a table in the space of about ten minutes, all while drunkenly looking for Caleb.

"I need to-_hic_-find Caleb," Hanna slurred. Her balance was off, and she swayed from side to side while trying to focus her gaze on Emily.

Emily sighed. Caleb had moved to Ravenswood a week ago, and Hanna had not taken it well. She'd locked herself in her room with gallons of ice cream and depressing music for a full 72 hours. Now, it seemed she'd turned to a more alcoholic mode of dealing with her feelings.

"Hanna, Caleb's gone. He moved away. You know this."

Hanna had started playing with the hem of her dress and seemed not to have heard. The theme of the party was movies, and she'd come to the party dressed as Audrey Hepburn from _Breakfast at Tiffany's_. She looked at Emily with a glazed look in her eyes, obviously having trouble focusing her vision.

"Em, why are there three of you?"

Emily shook her head and took Hanna's hand, leading her towards the door.

"Come on, we better go."

To Emily's surprise, Hanna followed with little resistance. She opened the car door for Hanna and, unlike herself in an intoxicated state, Hanna got in without so much as a word.

The drive to Emily's house was quiet, until Emily heard soft sobs from the passenger seat beside her.

"Hanna-"

"Why would he leave me, Em? I love him so-_hic_-much."

Emily didn't answer. She didn't know why Caleb had left. He'd been here one day, and the next, neither he nor Hanna had been at school. When she texted Hanna to ask about it, Hanna simply said that Caleb was gone. It wasn't until after swim practice when she brought Hanna cupcakes that Hanna told her where he went. Hanna hadn't known why he left either. He'd shown up at her door, stuff already packed, and told her he had to go. He had told her it was over, and then he was gone. He hadn't contacted Hanna or any of them since he'd left. Emily strongly suspected that A was involved in some way or another.

"I'm sure A has something on him, Han. He's probably just trying to protect you. You know how protective he gets."

Hanna didn't acknowledge Emily's response and pulled out her cell phone, fumbling it in her hands, clearly trying to make a call or send a text.

"I need to talk to him. He'll explain. He has to."

Emily reached over to grab the cell phone, knowing that it was a bad idea for Hanna to talk to Caleb when she was this far gone. It was quite the task, especially since she was still driving and Hanna was hell-bent on talking to him, but she finally gained possession of the phone just as they arrived at her house. She turned off the car, got out, and opened Hanna's car door.

"Come on, Han. We'll get some sleep, and you can call Caleb in the morning, okay?"

Hanna nodded weakly, defeated. She reached out for Emily's shoulders, steadying herself as she got out of the car. Even with the support, she stumbled. Emily caught her, but the momentum had pushed their faces only inches from each other. Hanna looked up at Emily, awe beginning to show itself on her face.

"Wow, Em. You're-_hic_-really pretty."

"Um, thanks."

Emily set Hanna upright and let go of her, shifting uncomfortably. She tried to lead Hanna into the house while still maintaining a respectable distance between the two of them. It wasn't going well.

Suddenly, Hanna stopped when they were halfway to the house. She eyed Emily quizzically, tilting her head in clear confusion.

"Em? Why are you blue?"

It was a ridiculous question. Emily rolled her eyes and grabbed Hanna's hand, pulling her towards the house. All efforts of maintaining physical distance had been abandoned in the hope of ending this outrageous night as soon as possible. Emily had dressed like one of the Na'vi from _Avatar_ for the party, painting herself blue for the occasion. The fact that Hanna hadn't remembered this was just further motivation to get some liquids in her and get her to bed immediately.

They finally got into the house, and Emily went to the kitchen to get Hanna a glass of water. She filled a glass at the sink, turned around, and almost dropped it out of surprise. Hanna had followed her into the kitchen, and her face suddenly filled Emily's vision.

Hanna's face slowly shifted to the awed look it had had when she'd gotten out of the car. She slowly leaned in, closing her eyes. It wasn't until their lips grazed that Emily realized what her intentions were. She broke the contact and pushed Hanna away gently. Hanna's eyes widened as the implications of what she had just done slowly revealed themselves to her alcohol-ridden brain, and Emily knew she had to handle this as delicately as possible.

"Hanna," she said slowly. "Why did you do that?"

Hanna fidgeted, avoiding Emily's questioning gaze.

"I-I don't know. I mean, Caleb's gone, and you're just really pretty, and here, and I miss…"

Hanna trailed off and looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. She wobbled a bit, reminding Emily of her intoxicated state.

A couple of years ago, Emily would have been celebrating this. After Ali went missing, and Hanna started taking Ali's place in the social hierarchy, Hanna had started taking Ali's place in Emily's heart as well. But they had stopped talking in the wake of Ali's disappearance, and she had been forced to admire her from afar. It was only when Maya came into her life that those feelings had started to dissipate. For much of the time she and Maya were together, though, her feelings for Hanna remained deeply rooted in the back of her mind. She ashamedly thought of how she had still cast longing looks at Hanna, even silently wishing that she could be slow dancing with Hanna in the candlelight while she was doing the same thing with Maya the night before she left. A lot of time had passed since then, and things had changed. Emily's feelings were now firmly focused on Paige, and while she could still appreciate Hanna's aesthetic appeal, the romantic attraction was no longer there. She thought bitterly about why this had to happen now, just when her love life was finally beginning to have some stability.

"Han…..it's fine. Let's get you to bed."

Hanna didn't resist as Emily led her up the stairs to her bedroom. When they got there, she helped Hanna into her bed, tucked her in, and walked towards the door, planning to sleep on the couch downstairs.

"Em," Hanna said, stopping Emily in her tracks. "I'm sorry."

Emily turned back to Hanna and gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's fine, Han. Just get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

With that, Hanna turned over into a sleeping position. It hadn't been three seconds before Emily heard her soft snoring. She turned back towards the door and went downstairs, praying that Hanna wouldn't remember what had happened in the morning, but also silently realizing how much stronger she had become since the time when she would have taken advantage of the situation if the same thing had transpired only two years ago.


	2. Chapter 2

Hanna woke to the sound of birds outside the window. Very loud and persistent birds at that. She grumbled, and buried her head back into the pillow. Her head was pounding, and the birds were definitely not helping with that situation.

Unfortunately, the pillow didn't protect her from the birds' seemingly incessant chirping. After just seconds, Hanna had had enough. She grabbed the spare pillow lying next to her and chucked it at the window, scaring the birds from their branch and forcing them to take their noise elsewhere.

"Freaking birds," she mumbled.

It was then that Hanna remembered that there were no trees next to the windows in her room. In a slight panic, she whipped her head every which way in an attempt to figure out where the hell she was. Her gaze finally rested on a bulletin board displaying several swimming ribbons.

"Emily," Hanna breathed out in relief.

Now that she had answered the question of where she was, she began to ponder just how she'd gotten there in the first place. She could only remember the first half hour of the party, but that was enough to realize that she'd gotten completely smashed. She figured that Emily must have taken her home so she didn't wind up embarrassing herself or getting into trouble.

Hanna smiled at this realization. Emily had always been the most loyal and protective out of the four of them. It was what Hanna admired most about her.

It was then that her body decided to let her know that it wanted liquids and it wanted them now. She moved to get out of the bed to go get some water, and in doing so noticed that there was already a glass of the sweet thirst reliever on the bedside table next to the cigarette holder that came with her costume. How she'd managed to hold on to it through all of her drunken shenanigans was a complete mystery. The bigger mystery, however, was why that glass seemed important to her somehow.

It was a mystery for a later time. Thirst now, revelations about odd attachments to glassware later.

Hanna grabbed the glass of water as quickly as she could without spilling and began to guzzle it. It was empty in less than ten seconds. Deciding that she'd been enough of a burden to Emily already, she went downstairs to put the glass in the dishwasher.

On her way to the kitchen, Hanna saw a sleeping and very blue Emily on the living room couch. Miraculously, none of the blue make-up she'd used to paint herself seemed to have smudged on the furniture. She must have used something really high quality.

"_Emily never half-asses anything. Not even costumes," _Hanna mused as she finished her journey to the kitchen. She began to walk towards the dishwasher, but she found that she was drawn to the sink. Her feet led her to it, and as soon as she reached it, the events of the past night hit her all at once. The glass fell from her hand, shattering on the kitchen floor.

There was no way Emily couldn't have been woken up by the sound. Hanna froze, and there was complete silence for a few seconds. Just when she started to relax, she heard Emily stirring in the other room.

"_Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT. Think, Hanna." _She was paralyzed with fear. Out of all the survival tactics that her body could have chosen in that moment, it chose freeze. "_What if she asks about it? Pretend I don't know what she's talking about? She'll know I'm lying. Ugh, I can't deal with this right now."_

Emily's sleep-laden voice pierced through her frantic thoughts. "Hanna? Is that you?"

Hanna's eyes darted around the kitchen in the subconscious hope that a solution would magically present itself. She glanced behind her, and there it was. The back door. She could make her escape and buy herself some time. Guiltily, she looked down at the remnants of her revelation, knowing that Emily being Emily would clean them up the second she saw them.

Her thought was interrupted by the sound of Emily's footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"_I'll apologize later. Right now I need to get the hell out of here."_

With that, Hanna closed the short distance to the back door, flung it open, and fled, letting it slam on her way out.


	3. Chapter 3

_Crash!_

Emily's eyes flew open at the sound. A feeling of panic rushed through her. After two years of torture at the hands of A, her mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was under attack. Her heart pounded as her still sleepy brain tried to catch up with reality. After a few seconds, she successfully calmed herself down. She thought about what the true source of the sound could be. It sounded like it had come from the kitchen. Her mom had gone to visit her father in Texas, so she and Hanna were the only two people in the house.

"Hanna? Is that you?"

She waited for a response, but none came. Abandoning the couch, she got up to investigate. She hadn't taken three steps before she heard movement. The sound of the door slamming reached her ears just as she reached the kitchen.

Shards of glass lay abandoned on the floor in front of the sink. Emily grabbed the broom and dustpan from where they rested on the wall next to the refrigerator without a second thought. It wasn't until she began sweeping that she began to ponder how the glass had broken in the first place. Hanna was the only other person in the house, so it couldn't have been anyone else except for her.

Unless…no, A wasn't an option here, either. A was immaculate unless they wanted to be noticed, and they only wanted to be noticed when they had a message. Plus, A would never be so clumsy as to let the door slam on their way out. But Hanna would.

"_Why would she leave so suddenly?"_ Emily wondered as she threw the glass shards in the garbage. She moved to put the broom and dustpan back in their proper place, and she realized the answer to her question.

"She remembers," Emily grumbled aloud, putting her face in her hands. This was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Hanna must have fled because she wanted to dodge a confrontation. Emily didn't blame her. She didn't think she could have handled a confrontation, either. Unfortunately, she realized, they would have to talk about it eventually.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Emily answered it, and standing in the entryway was Paige, holding a carry-out bag full of food with a huge grin on her face.

"Hey, Em!" Paige's smile widened even further as she took in Emily's blue form. "Looks like somebody wanted to get as much mileage out of her costume as possible."

"Hey, Paige," Emily said as she let her girlfriend in. She had forgotten that she and Paige had made plans to have lunch and train together. "Sorry, I just woke up. I'll go shower and then we can eat and get going."

"It's okay. There's no rush. My pool should still be there no matter when we get to my house." Paige joked as she deposited the food on the dining room table. She turned to face Emily, and noticed that she wasn't as responsive to her banter as she normally was.

"You seem kinda blue, Em. Both literally and figuratively."

Emily sighed and looked out the window. She and Paige had promised to be honest with each other no matter what. Considering past events and the fact that A pounced on lies like a lion on an antelope, honesty really was the best policy. Besides, she trusted Paige just as much as she trusted Aria, Hanna, and Spencer. Plus, if Paige took Emily kissing Nate marginally well, Emily kissing Hanna would be nothing, right?

"Last night was…..interesting."

Paige pulled out a chair and sat at the table, looking at Emily expectantly.

"Interesting how?"

"Hanna brought her own flask to the party and got really drunk. She was stumbling around trying to find Caleb and getting really upset, so I brought her here so she could sleep it off. When I went to get her a glass of water, though, she…"

"She what?"

Emily sat down beside Paige, looking her directly in the eyes. She needed to make sure that she said the next part right.

"She kissed me. But I pulled away right away, and I think she was confused, and she was drunk, and didn't really realize what she was doing, and-"

"Em! Slow down. It's okay."

"So, you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad? She's the one who kissed you. I trust you. Honestly, I'm not really that surprised."

"Really? Why?"

"Em, have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Emily shoved Paige playfully at that, a giant smile forming on her face.

"What? It's true," Paige asserted.

Emily's smile grew even bigger.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Now, about all this food I brought-"

"Do you mind if we microwave it later? I really need to shower."

Emily got up and began walking toward the stairs. After a few steps, she turned back to Paige.

"You know, I may need some help getting this paint off."

Paige got up so quickly she almost upended the chair she was sitting in.

"I'd be happy to oblige."

Emily smiled, turned around, and made her way upstairs to the bathroom with Paige following close behind.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, everyone! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. I hope you enjoy this chapter despite how long you had to wait for it.**

Hanna ran until she reached the end of Emily's block. Though the distance wasn't particularly far, Hanna wasn't athletic in any sense of the word, and sweating was _not_ an option for her. Ever. She figured that if Emily hadn't started following her by that point, she would be safe. Not only that, but the fact that she had left her shoes at Emily's house hampered her already limited running ability.

She started to walk towards her own house while contemplating her next move. She couldn't avoid Emily forever. She didn't _want _to avoid Emily forever. Despite the awkwardness of the current situation, Hanna knew that the friendship between the two of them was strong enough to withstand anything. Their friendship crumbling wasn't Hanna's main concern, however.

Hanna had kissed Emily, and Hanna needed to figure out why. Alcohol was part of it, of course, but it wasn't an excuse. There was more to it than that. Missing Caleb was definitely a factor, but missing him didn't logically lead to kissing Emily. Did it?

"_Logic is more up Spencer's alley than mine,_" Hanna thought. "_Maybe I should call her."_

She got out her phone to do just that, but something stopped her. Spencer was one of her best friends, and she loved her, but empathy was not her strong suit. Having everything laid out logically would certainly be helpful, but Hanna knew that as much as Spencer would be willing to help, that help would most likely be colder than Hanna could stand. Spencer would enthusiastically interrogate Hanna about the night's events, trying to fit the pieces together, and Hanna could barely remember anything besides the beginning of the party and the kiss. She knew the lack of concrete detail would drive Spencer insane, causing her questioning to become even more intense. Hanna didn't think her emotions could take that right now.

Emotions weren't something that Hanna had let herself consider until this point. Honestly, she was kidding herself thinking that cut and dry logic would be able to help her. Her actions last night had been anything but logical. Her feelings about Caleb leaving weren't logical, and whatever she had been feeling that led her to kiss Emily sure as _hell_ wasn't logical. She needed to sort her feelings out, and she needed someone who wasn't Emily to help her do it.

She felt her phone vibrate, signaling a text, and she looked to see who it was from. Thankfully, it wasn't from A. It was from Aria.

**Hey, Han. Want to get some coffee at The Brew?**

Aria had been sending her text invites for coffee every day since Caleb left, trying to get her out of her room. Hanna had been ignoring them, but now a coffee date with Aria was just what she needed. Aria was the queen of figuring out emotions. The girl kept a feelings journal, for Christ's sake. Hanna typed out a response.

**Sure. I'm gonna need a ride tho. I'm on the corner of Niehaus and Cormier.**

After sending the message, Hanna sat on the curb to wait for Aria. She had barely sat down when her phone vibrated again.

**Okay? I'll be there in a few.**

True to her word, Aria pulled up to the street corner just a couple of minutes after sending her response. Hanna opened the passenger seat door and got in.

"Han? Why are you still wearing your costume from last night?" Aria asked.

"Wait, you were there?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't there very long. I had to pick Mike up from a party with his lacrosse pals." Aria's contempt for Mike's "lacrosse pals" was clear from her tone. "You don't remember me being there? We talked multiple times."

"Um, I don't exactly remember all that much about it. I drank a lot, okay?"

"You didn't end up sleeping on the street, did you?"

"What? No! I have _some_ class. Besides, Emily took me to her house. I slept there."

"So, why aren't you there now?"

"It's complicated."

"_Understatement of the year,_" Hanna added to herself.

"What do you m-"

"I'll explain at the Brew," Hanna interrupted. She really needed some caffeine before she tried to explain everything to Aria. She couldn't even explain everything to herself.

"Okay," Aria said. She started her car and began to drive towards The Brew.

"Wait!" Hanna said suddenly. "We need to stop at my house first so I can change and get shoes."

"Hanna Marin _without_ shoes?" Aria said in disbelief. "You never not have shoes."

"I told you it was complicated."


	5. Chapter 5

Emily walked through the sliding glass door into Paige's house, towel wrapped around her waist. She and Paige had just finished their swimming session. Paige trailed in behind her as she started to towel off her hair.

"Your stroke has really improved, Em," Paige said. "The Red Devils had better watch their back."

"Yeah, for you on those turns," Emily replied with a grin. This had been one of their best training sessions in a while. Swimming was one of the few beacons of light that shot through the darkness that A loomed over her life. It was even better now that she had someone she could really share it with. As much as she loved them, her friends didn't understand the rush of surging through the water, thinking of nothing but breathing and counting strokes, and forgetting everything else. Paige did.

"I don't know about you, but I've worked up quite the appetite. Want to hit The Grille?" Paige asked.

"Seriously? We _just _ate before we swam."

"Well, maybe swimming and-_ahem_-other activities have made me a tad hungrier than usual."

Emily smirked at that. "Fine. We'll shower and then go. Separately this time."

"So disappointing," Paige sighed dramatically. "But probably in my stomach's best interest."

Twenty minutes later, the two arrived at The Grille. Emily scanned the room to see if she saw anyone she recognized. Sure enough, she spotted Spencer waving the two over to her table at the far end of the restaurant.

"Hey, Spencer's here," Emily said to her girlfriend. "Let's go sit with her."

Paige simply smiled in agreement and grabbed Emily's hand as they walked over to the table. They sat down across from Spencer, whose only company was the Russian Literature course book she was holding.

"Hey, Emily. Paige," she said.

"Hey," Paige replied hesitantly. While things had considerably warmed between the two, they weren't about to make each other friendship bracelets any time soon either. Emily noticed the chill and tried to get the conversation going.

"A bit of light reading, Spence?"

"I have a test on Monday. I've gotten kind of behind lately."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You always are."

"We'll see."

Emily rolled her eyes. Spencer always stressed out over tests, claiming she would do poorly, but she always came out on top in the end.

"So, what are you doing here alone?" Paige asked bluntly.

"Melissa's in town, so I've graciously removed myself from the Hastings abode," Spencer replied coolly.

"Actually, I really don't want to go home tonight," she continued, turning back to Emily. "Any chance of a group sleepover? Have you talked to Hanna or Aria today?"

Emily's blood turned to ice. She had allowed herself to momentarily forget about the Hanna situation. There was no way she could handle a sleepover tonight, and she had a feeling Hanna probably couldn't either.

"Uh, no. I haven't. And I'm not sure if a sleepover is the best idea tonight."

"Why?"

Emily wasn't sure how to respond. She knew that Spencer would find out eventually, and it was probably best that she told her now, but she had no idea where to begin. She looked desperately to Paige for help. Unfortunately, Paige misinterpreted her signal.

"I, um, have to go to the bathroom," Paige said. She got up and walked away, leaving Emily to explain everything to Spencer alone.

"Okay, now I'm concerned. What's going on, Em?"

Emily simply put her head in her hands and sighed.


End file.
